MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Residents of new liberated territories in Ukraine will have the right to determine their future themselves, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Department of CIS Countries Alexey Polishchuk told TASS on Sunday.
"We proceed from the fact that residents of these territories have the right to determine their future themselves. The right of peoples to self-determination is enshrined in the UN Charter and other international documents," the senior Russian diplomat said, responding to a question about whether referendums on new liberated territories could be held.
As Polishchuk recalled, the 1970 Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States says that peoples cannot be forcibly deprived of the right to self-determination.
"And if this takes place, peoples can take measures against such forcible actions and receive support of the international community," the high-ranking diplomat went on to say.
"That is why, we supported the referendums in the DPR [Donetsk People’s Republic], the LPR [Lugansk People’s Republic], the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, recognized their results and accepted them into Russia," he said.
From September 23 to September 27, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region held a referendum where the majority of voters opted to join Russia.
On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the DPR and the LPR, the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions signed treaties on their accession to Russia. Later, the State Duma and the Federation Council (the lower and upper houses of Russia’s parliament) approved laws on ratifying these treaties, as well as federal constitutional laws on the accession of the four regions to Russia.